How to Teach Your Child the Value of Money

By Guardian Angel

Money is the reason why we are working hard. As a parent, we will do everything just to earn money in order to give to our children their needs. We also tend to sacrifice a lot of things in order to earn good money, including time for our children. This is one of the good reasons why we should teach our children to value money. We do not want our effort to work be wasted. Another good reason is that they can use what they have learned when it is already time for them to work. If they learn early, they can easily get used to it. So when your child starts to understand that money is being used to buy things, you can use these helpful tips to teach your child:

Tell him about your work
Frequently telling stories about your work and how hard it is will somehow stick to his mind that money should be handled properly. When your child sees that you are tired from work, he will start to understand that earning money is not a joke. It is also advisable to make him understand how a simple business works and let him analyze how money is being circulated. In addition, he will also feel that you are doing all the best you can to provide his needs.

Let your child budget his money
Another effective way is to give exact money for his one-week allowance instead of giving it daily. Explain to him how much he should spend everyday so that the money will just fit for the whole week. If he used his money for unnecessary things, let him suffer the consequences instead of giving additional money. Let him study how to save money by simply not buying luxurious things. As he grows with it, you will not be only saving money but you are also teaching him to responsible.

Let him work for it
Although it is not proper to allow your child to work, there are some simple ways where you can teach him how to work hard to earn money. Now that your teenager can do simple household activities, require her to do the dishes and give money in return. However, you must be careful in motivating your child. She might misinterpret the difference between a reward and money as exchange for a hard work. If you fail to do so, there might come a time that your child will only do it because of money.

Show the bad effect
Use the media to provide samples to motivate your child further. Let him see for himself the bad effect if he will not learn to handle money properly. Allowing him to see the latest news about poverty and high inflation rate will make him somehow realize that he is lucky enough to enjoy his status. If he sees a group of children as young as him, but struggling hard to make a living, he will be afraid that he will be joining them someday if he will not value money.

Set a good example
I have always been mentioning this in almost all my posts. Say what you do, and do what you say. If your child sees that you are spending money for non-valuable things, you cannot force him on something that you do not do. There is really nothing wrong with enjoying your hard-earned money, as long as you have extra money for it. However, if you do not explain it well to your child, he will find it hard to understand it. Enjoying is very much different with wasting.

Although money cannot buy everything, it is still the main source of our daily needs and children should realize that as early as possible.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

I am a Filipino engineer who found himself more comfortable in writing letters instead of numbers, and interacting with humans rather than machines. For more tips about child care, health, growth and development, safety, and education and all about effective parenting, please feel free to visit Effective Parenting Tips at www.whatparentsshouldrealize.blogspot.com.